U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,258 discloses a reversible all optical implementation of an interaction gate. One embodiment of the interaction gate disclosed was a dual beam version of an optical nonlinear interface. Another embodiment was a dual beam Fabry-Perot.
A nonlinear interface is commonly known as a plane interface between two dielectric media, one of which has an intensity dependent nonlinear refractive index. There has been much interest in the nonlinear interface (NI) and its behavior over the past decade (see A. E. Kaplan, "Theory of Hysteresis Reflection and Refraction of Light by a Boundary of a Nonlinear Medium", Sov. Phys. JETP 45, 896 (1977); P. W. Smith, W. J. Tomlinson, P. J. Maloney and J.-P. Hermann, "Experimental Studies of a Nonlinear Interface", IEEE QE-17, 340 (1981); W. J. Tomlinson, J. P. Gordon, P. W. Smith and A. E. Kaplan, "Reflection of a Gaussian Beam at a Nonlinear Interface", Appl. Opt. 21, 2041 (1982); P. W. Smith and W. J. Tomlinson, "Nonlinear Optical Interfaces: Switching Behavior", IEEE QE-20, 30 (1984); R. Cuykendall and D. Andersen, "Reversible Computing: All-Optical Implementation of Interaction and Priese Gates", Opt. Comm. 62, 232 (1987); "Reversible Optical Computing Circuits", Opt. Lett. 12, 542 (1987); R. Cuykendall, "Three-Port Reversible Logic", Appl. Opt. 27, 1772 (1988); D. R. Andersen, R. Cuykendall and J. Regan, "Slam-Vectorized Calculation of Refraction and Reflection for a Gaussian Beam at a Nonlinear Interface in the Presence of a Diffusive Kerr-like Nonlinearity", Comp. Phys. Commun. 48, 255 (1988); and R. Cuykendall and K. Strobl, "Thin Film Computing with the Nonlinear Interface", JOSA-B, to be published, (1989). This was due primarily to its potential for ultrafast (subpicosecond) switching. Early experiments and simulations both indicated intrinsic limitations to beam and switching quality, i.e. transmitted beam breakup associated with multiple intensity thresholds and low contrast between total internal reflection and transmission.
Those concerned with these and other problems recognize the need for an interaction gate with improved switching quality.